Written by Barracuda MSP Guest Blogger – As a managed services provider (MSP), you want to ensure that your clients’ networks, servers, data, and applications remain secure. You don’t want to overlook any gaps in their cybersecurity defenses that could leave them vulnerable to a data breach or other type of attack.

To that end, MSPs need to ensure that their own systems and applications aren’t creating vulnerabilities. We know that groups of cybercriminals are now specifically targeting MSPs: The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued warnings to MSPs about these attacks and conducted additional briefings in February about malicious activity in China that targeted MSPs.

Last year, an MSP in California was locked out of its systems by a ransomware attack and was forced to shut down its network. In turn, the company’s clients lost access to their email and databases. What could be worse?

Well, an MSP could fail to patch a remote monitoring and management (RMM) system, enabling a ransomware attack that encrypts all of its customers’ endpoint systems. According to several reports, that’s what happened to a U.S.-based MSP in February. An RMM vulnerability resulted in approximately 2,000 client systems being crypto locked, and the attacker made a $2.6 million ransom demand to the MSP. Read more:

RB Note: Are you protected? Check with your MSP today. @Stratix_Systems can provide an assessment.